The Last Pages
by Astrophysikerin
Summary: Sam Gamgee decides to fill the last pages, which he knows will require an adventure... Stargate SG-1 crossover; nothing new


"The last pages are yours, Sam." Frodo's last words to him continuously rang in his ears night and day, the phase indifferent to the occasion. He remembered it when with his family and when he went about his daily business and while he entertained guests. He longed to fill those last pages, the empty space left for his own adventures. He'd read through Bilbo's There And Back Again and Frodo's The Lord of the Rings, and his normal life as a hobbit, with all the entertaining gossip and news of the Shire, really didn't stack up.  
  
Maybe it's time something peaceful be written in that book, he'd thought to himself, but in his heart, he knew he just couldn't add anything so normal to such extraordinary literature. Even his children's mischievous adventures about Bag End couldn't stack up to his trip with Frodo to Mount Doom. If anyone knew that, it was Sam.  
  
Still, he often wondered how to fill those pages that had been entrusted to him.  
  
Sam stood at the gate to his yard, on the brink of deciding whether to leave or not. He knew that his wife watched him through the front window, and he knew that she did not wish him to go. Nevertheless, his restlessness would not leave him, even after the many years since he'd returned to the Shire for good.  
  
He took a deep breath, trying to remember what Mr. Bilbo used to say. Something about the world being dangerous with that first step away from home. He lifted his foot and took that first step, urged on by something he could not explain. He didn't exactly know where he was going, but then again, did he need to?  
  
He wondered away, assuring himself that he'd made it clear to Rose that he'd return safe and sound. He just had to. But just as much as he had to return, he had to leave. All through the Shire, he was aware of the shifting traffic around him and the wind in the trees, all of which seemed slightly... different. As if something wasn't quite right.  
  
He made his way to Bree, where he stayed the night at the same inn that he'd stayed in so long ago when Gandalf had sent him with Frodo. In fact, this was the very place where they'd met Aragorn, though they'd known him as Strider.  
  
He quickly settled into the hobbit-sized room after a cup of ale. Just as he began to drift off to sleep, a light, almost hesitant knock sounded on the door. He leapt up and grappled for a sword he didn't have. Another knock, even lighter this time, sounded, accompanied by slight whimpering. Sam cautiously opened the door to reveal two young hobbits. He flung the door wider and dragged the two in before whipping the door shut.  
  
"Elanor, Frodo, what are you doing here?" he asked, disapproval heavy in his voice. "It's not safe."  
  
His oldest daughter looked up with her bright blue eyes. "You were gonna leave. Alone."  
  
"So we thought we'd come and keep ya company," added his son.  
  
"Besides, we know all about what's out here," she said.  
  
Frodo glared at her and nudged her with his elbow.  
  
"So you read it." Sam looked from Elanor's gleaming face to Frodo's troubled one. "I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later." Both of their faces brightened. "Get to bed now; we've got a long ways to go tomorrow." Then his face creased as he remembered something. "Your mother's going to be worried sick when she finds you missing."  
  
Elanor smiled. "Nope. We told her. Well, we told Pippin to tell her, but she knows."  
  
He winced then hurried the two off to bed, glad that Ringwraiths weren't going to be chasing them now.

* * *

His bed shook. He watched with wide eyes as the Ringwraiths jabbed their swords into the beds that he and Frodo were supposed to be sleeping in. It shook harder and harder until Sam finally sat straight up, convinced that if he opened his eyes, he'd stare into the ghostly forms of all nine Ringwraiths.  
  
So he sat up with his eyes shut, finally realizing that he heard screams of "Wake up, Dad!" "Are you ever going to get up?" "C'mon, let's go!" He cracked his eyes open to see the forms of two of his children, who he was sometimes convinced were the reincarnation of the Ringwraiths. Now, however, he couldn't be happier to see them. That's the last time I ever stay somewhere where we stayed then.   
  
Seeing the troubled look on her father's face, Elanor asked, "What's wrong, Dad?"  
  
When he didn't answer, it clicked in Frodo's mind. "Bad memories. The last time you were here, you almost got killed."  
  
"The first time," Sam added.  
  
After a large, hobbit-sized breakfast, they left, still following the same road Sam had taken with Frodo. Only this time, they could actually stay on the road. Since the two had read The Lord of the Rings, he occasionally pointed out where this or that had happened.

* * *

"These coordinates are unlike any we've ever visited before," Sam commented.  
  
"Oh, really?" her CO replied, moving to look over her shoulder at the computer screen.  
  
Daniel nodded. "There's only one symbol's difference from Earth's, meaning that it uses many of the same points of reference. Abydos had two differences, so this place is closer than Abydos."  
  
"But as far as we know, Abydos is the closest inhabitable planet," the major explained.  
  
"Is this place inhabitable?" Jack asked, glancing from the major and her computer screen to the Stargate and back.  
  
"It is indeed, O'Neill," Teal'c answered, beating the others to it.  
  
"Then we leave in five." After receiving a nod from most of the members of his team, he walked out of the room to get ready for the mission. Teal'c followed soon after, but Daniel and Sam stayed behind.  
  
"The MALP showed some ruins, but they didn't look like they'd been abandoned for long," the scientist said.  
  
A large smile grew on the archeologist's face. "With any luck, someone might come back while we're there."  
  
She nodded then both headed off to get ready.

* * *

Several days since they'd left Bree, they finally arrived at the elvin city where he had last seen Mr. Frodo Baggins, where the elves had left to sail west. Sam stood staring into the picture-perfect view of the small port surrounded by tall, majestic mountains that had sheltered the elvin ships before they left. His children stood behind him, wondering what he was looking at.  
  
Elanor leaned over to her brother. "Did you see that cart-ish thing that didn't quite look elvish?"  
  
Frodo nodded. "Let's go check it out!  
  
The two wondered back to where they had seen a strange object. It appeared to be a box on wheels with a long, bent horn on top. Beside the horn was a bowl with a stick in the middle. Many other things were built onto the cart, and the hobbits could not make heads or tails of any of them.  
  
Suddenly, they heard a strange whoosh and one of the things left by the elves burst foward with a blue splash. After the splash settled into a calm, rippling, watery surface, four figures emerged in strange, dark green, bulky clothing that did not flow right for anyone to mistake them for elves or royalty. As soon as the two had reached this conclusion, they scattered for hiding-holes, as any good hobbit would. Sam, too, saw the commotion, and found himself hidden before they saw him.  
  
The four looked around the abandoned elvish city after the water behind them vanished.  
  
"Did you see that?" the one with a billed hat asked.  
  
"Indeed," replied the dark-skinned one, who held a staff similar to a wizard's. "They appeared to have been scared off."  
  
Frodo's eyes narrowed as he whispered, "I'll show them 'scared off!'" His sister's glare stilled him, though.  
  
The other two, though, hadn't taken their eyes of the structures around them. "It's beautiful!" commented one.  
  
"I don't recognize any of these markings or the architecture," explained the other. "Maybe the Goa'uld didn't bring these people from Earth." He took off for some of the inscriptions on the elvish buildings after getting a nod from the one with the hat. The rest of the team split up and disappeared into the buildings. 

Sam did not fail to notice that the one studying the writings stood very near to his children. Then the worst thing he could imagine happened: the strange man dropped his notebook and saw the small hobbits when he bent down to pick it up.

"C'mon out," he said. "I won't hurt you." He frowned when they didn't answer. "Ich werde Ihnen nicht verletzen."

"Huh?" peeped Frodo, who then glanced to his sister and stood up, knowing that he was the only one seen.

The man smiled. "I'm Daniel Jackson. What's your name?" When the hobbit looked from the stranger to Sam, whose hiding spot was behind him, he turned quickly enough to catch a glimpse of the older hobbit. "Who's that?" When the hobbit still didn't answer, he reached up to press a box on his vest. "Jack, the city's not abandoned after all; they're just shy."

A voice came out of that same box. "I don't know, Danny. The place looks pretty abandoned to us. Teal'c says that it looks like they left between twenty and fifty years ago."

"I found one."

"Well, why didn't you say so?" he replied sarcastically. Then his voice got semi-serious again. "We'll be there in a minute."

Daniel released his vest pocket and smiled at the hobbit. "They're just my friends, no one to be afraid of."

Frodo swallowed. "I don't know, mister. Where I come from, they always tell us to hide when men such as yourself come along."

"If not here, then where are you from?"

Frodo shrugged. "Um... North of here?" he replied, seeing if he could get away with such a nondescript answer. It never worked with his parents, but this guy wasn't his parents, was he.


End file.
